All good storytellers are Sirens.

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Monthly Archives: February 2012

When I saw the title yr w-o a btl posted by tsunamidaily in the Sirenstories SoundCloud, I instantly thought that when I hit the play button I’d hear, well, I don’t know exactly what I thought I’d hear, something tribal? Something in another language? I certainly wasn’t expecting a rough take of a gorgeous song in the vein of Nick Cave from a singer songwriter who lives in West Yellowstone, Montana. I wasn’t expecting to hear Year without a Bottle, a romantic ballad about trying to get sober during a time of loss.

Unfortunately tsunamidaily didn’t leave much info in the Sirenstories Soundcloud, but he did say Year Without a Bottle is a work in progress, and labeled it “rhythmic soul”. He also wrote, “It’s an actual song”, referring to the basic instrumentation of piano and voice. I have to agree with him, it’s a song, and a good one at that. I also think that the label on tsunamidaily’s myspace page is a more accurate description than “rhythmic soul”. It says that the music of tsunamidaily is Folk/Other/Shoegazer.

Year Without a Bottle makes me think of God Shuffled His Feet by The Crash Test Dummies, remember them? What’s going on with those guys? I’m off to Google.

I haven’t heard any new lounge music in a while so it was a pleasant surprise to find Leave Me Alone from Yan Terrien in the Sirenstories SoundCloud.

If you know anything about me and my other Sirenstories project, you know I’m a huge fan of young adult literature. I read a ton of it. I love the constantly conflicting emotions, all the ‘touch me don’t touch me’ stuff that goes on, and the ‘I’m no good for you, we can’t see each other’ theme. The ‘I’m no good for you’ theme is especially fun, because while in the past it was, ‘I’m no good for you because I’m

a.) from another class

b.) a tortured artist

c.) an underdog of some sort

d.) going off to war

these days we have so much more to choose from! Today, it’s ‘I’m not good for you’ because I’m

c.) the son of a man who is trying to destroy the world, or has already

d.) sitting on the opposite side of the cafeteria, i.e., I’m a jock and you’re a band geek, nerd, etc. and our friends hate each other.

My favorite song that does what Yan Terrien‘s song does is Missing you, by John Waite. Over and over Waite insists he’s not missing a certain someone, but meanwhile he writes one of the best kick ass love songs filled with yearning that you’ve ever heard and sings the hell out of. Yan Terrien‘s approach is a bit more laid back, but the idea is the same. On Leave Me Alone,Terrien mirrors Waite’s technique of repeating certain lines over and over. Terrien‘s spoken vocal is percussive and his French accent adds a measure of sophistication that makes lines like, “Get the hell out of my life” sound that much better.

Leave Me Alone made me think of just how many great songs and books and movies are devoted to the art of breaking up and making up. I’d love to know your favorite, it’s Valentine’s Day after all.

If you’ve read my blog before, you may know that if an artist doesn’t include a bio or lyrics or links when he uploads his song to the Sirenstories SoundCloud, I go snooping. It’s one of the reasons these posts can take such a long time for me to write, (which is my excuse for posting less than I promised) but it’s also fun.

To me, the most interesting piece of information I found about Yan Terrien, self-employed software developer, was this:

I was very excited to find a song entitled Sirene in the Sirenstories SoundCloud recently!

I hope you enjoy this atmospheric soundscape from French digital art-folk duo Les Reves.

The opening of Sirene is dramatic, orchestral, but after a moment I am plunged beneath the soundwaves into an unknown world. The cries of gulls reach me where I float, perhaps towards or away from a dream, and soon the sound of voices carries down to me as well, a man, a woman . . . Sirens.

Halfway through the piece a rhythm track gives me something to hold onto, or so I think, until between the percussion and Hannah Hardy‘s lovely mysterious vocals, I become hypnotized . . ..

Regretfully I return from my journey when a gong sounds and Sirene comes to an end.